


Tropesis

by belford



Category: Young Wizards - Diane Duane
Genre: No Explicit Sexual Content, Other, Pre-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-19
Updated: 2012-12-19
Packaged: 2017-11-21 14:45:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,601
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/598948
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/belford/pseuds/belford
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>This text is tagless dialogue. (There are reasons for this.)</p><p>To make reading slightly easier, I have applied a stylesheet with mild color and font variations for the voices. These are not crucial. If you use the "hide creator's style" option, or if color and font are not accessible to you, you won't be missing out.</p><p>Thanks to R_ for the beta-read.</p><p>(Jan 1: Added end notes.)</p>
    </blockquote>





	Tropesis

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Pax](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pax/gifts).



> This text is tagless dialogue. (There are reasons for this.)
> 
> To make reading slightly easier, I have applied a stylesheet with mild color and font variations for the voices. These are not crucial. If you use the "hide creator's style" option, or if color and font are not accessible to you, you won't be missing out.
> 
> Thanks to R_ for the beta-read.
> 
> (Jan 1: Added end notes.)

You might call it the Silver City. Cities have not yet been invented; nor has silver, for that matter. But the phrase captures a sense of orderliness, a sense of soaring height, a sense of many-working-to-build. Those are right. 

_And the light--_

You could as well call it the Bright Galaxy, or the Grain of White Sand. (Many microcrystalline domains, interpenetrating, refracting; unique; sharp-edged a thousand million ways.) 

In that city (or grain), the Powers labor to design silver, sand, galaxies, and all the universes that will be built from such things. It will take them forever. They _have_ forever, necessarily; the first moment of Time will begin when they are finished. 

* * *

“You cannot be serious.” 

“What? I thought you’d like it.” 

“I do like it; you know me. But it’s... got... flappy bits all over. And a hook thing.” 

“It’s just a concept sketch. I drew it in the current committee meeting.” 

“You’re supposed to be _running_ the meetings, not doodling your way through them.” 

“They’re unbearably tedious... I know, it’s no excuse. But we’ve been doing this forever and we haven’t even agreed on the structure of matter yet.” 

“If you’d just push a little -- what is this all over the flappy bits?” 

“Red and blue. That’s yellow. They’re _colors_. We haven’t decided how color will work, either, but we’re _definitely_ going with it. Everyone’s very excited.” 

“Even more concept sketches, therefore, I’m sure. I can see them now. Look, you’ll get nothing sorted out until you make some decisions in there.” 

“Like?” 

“Anything. Break a symmetry group. Pick the number of dimensions! Tell the committee to accept it or raise an objection. At least you’ll have a discussion going.” 

“And if they come up with some ideas on matter, we can bang on how to make color _with_ matter... yes.” 

“I really do like the flappy bits.” 

“I’m glad. I love you.” 

“I love you.” 

* * *

“Oh, it’s going so much better now.” 

“I can tell. Four dimensions, eh?” 

“Eleven really. But that’s way too many for architectural work -- it’d be a _maze_ \-- so I got everyone to compromise on four and a mess of microparameters.” 

“By ardent declamation, as I understand.” 

“By main shouting, you might as well say. You’re so right; I just have to put down a decision and behold, we’re off to a different... well, a different argument, anyhow.” 

“It’s progress. What you’re doing with radiation is wonderful. I know you were set on having color in there, but look at this! It’s _all_ color...” 

“Now we just have to tackle the tropesis problem.” 

“I’m sure you’ll make that work too.” 

“I have to. It has to be _right_... What about you? How have you been spending your self-existence?” 

“Trying to understand my role, I suppose. Easy for you; you’re in there designing up a storm. But I’m supposed to be the Defender. Which is what?” 

“Defending the Cosmos, once we reach the point of Enaction.” 

“Evidently. But against what? It’s just us and the One; we’re all doing the same thing. We imagine that the Cosmos will have more -- infinitely more kinds of life -- perhaps parts of it might need defending against other parts. Perhaps! It hasn’t been _decided_ yet. I have so little to go on.” 

“Then I’ll work harder, to bring it clear.” 

“Thank you. I love you.” 

“I love you... I wonder what _that_ might mean.” 

“Love? We all know what love is.” 

“But in a fully enacted Cosmos. With so much more Life, as you say. Life for us to love. Life to love _us_... Surely love will _mean_ more?” 

“That... is an interesting thought.” 

“I’ll bring it up in committee. And I _do_ love you.” 

“Oh -- speaking of radiation. Here.” 

“My sketch?” 

“I’ve noted down some ways that we could get color onto the flappy bits. I know it’s not my job, but... The structure just occurred to me, I drew it up.” 

“I knew you had some doodling in you somewhere!” 

“Oh, _thank_ you.” 

* * *

“But what if I _can’t_ make it work?!” 

“Calm. Calm. Tropesis is not all on your shoulders, you know. You’ve got everyone on the committee working together on this. Someone must see a solution. Just look there!” 

“Yes... yes. I can see us getting _past_ this; I just can’t see _how_ , because we haven’t resolved it. It’s the problem itself in miniature, I guess.” 

“So. Explain it to me.” 

“As if you didn’t know!” 

“Yes. As if I didn’t know.” 

“It’s... look. The One is eternal. We’re eternal. We see ourselves from every angle -- approaching the work, laboring, completing the work. But Time, when we enact Time, isn’t like that! Life in the Cosmos has to _grow_. It has to become what it is not, constantly.” 

“I still can hardly get my head around it, truly.” 

“If you could, we’d have solved everything... So matter needs a, a directional tendency -- a bias. And we haven’t been able to find one. We’ve got pages and pages of physical interactions sketched out, but they all run equally well in every direction. There’s no impetus for change.” 

“So. But _we_ don’t have anything like that. We self-exist. Surely we can design the Cosmos the same way?” 

“Sure, we thought of that right away. Try it, though. Take a look at the self-existent Cosmos -- the Enaction in which we choose no tropetic function.” 

“...Ah. I see.” 

“You _can_ see, right, it’s as clear as we’re standing here. And who do you see?” 

“Us.” 

“Just us. Standing right here. Talking about tropesis! Looking back at us! _Hello!”_

“Don’t wave at yourself, it’s tacky.” 

“Hah. But you understand. We, the Powers, _already_ encompass all the ways there are to exist without Time. A Cosmos without change is no larger than we are.” 

“I believe... you help illuminate the nature of my own problem.” 

“Your being the Defender?” 

“In a tropetic Cosmos, beings would... _strive_. To not have achieved a goal, to be achieving, to have achieved it -- distinct states, correct? One could not see one from the other.” 

“That, I can barely get _my_ head around. But I think it follows.” 

“The universe, matter itself, would be subject to this change-impulse. One would have to, to -- to _fight_ to take it where one wanted to go. Is that my role? To help Life fight to achieve?” 

“You may have it. You just may. But, obviously, none of this can be certain until Enaction.” 

“Of course. So strange... looking at the Cosmos as we will create it. Seeing all the things we will do there. So involved, so carefully considered -- but here we stand, watching, and we know what none of it _means_.” 

“I’ve looked, of course, but I’ve never tried to imagine... You, dancing around those Life-elements. Me, manipulating those potential-kinetic forces. You’re right, it must mean _something_ , but what?” 

“Will we, too, be _striving_ when we are there? Wanting things?” 

“I guess we’ll know once the committee has resolved how it will all work. Which, speaking of, I’d better get back to.” 

“Indeed. And -- work hard, will you? I think I am eager to gain this understanding.” 

“But--” 

“You _will_ make it work. I trust you.” 

“...I love you.” 

* * *

“I had a thought.” 

“About defending Life?” 

“Yes, but also about your problem. It’s... you may not like it.” 

“Anything you come up with is better than more wrangling about encyclic state parameters with... never mind. What have you got?” 

“I was trying to imagine what might exist in a Cosmos to _threaten_ Life. Our creations would never, obviously -- but perhaps emergent entities?” 

“You mean, some consequence of what we build? I suppose once there’s Time and everything is changing, we won’t understand everything it becomes until it gets there... Creepy. But surely all entities detrimental to Life will be detrimental to each other, also? They will all work against each other, on average. Whereas entities that act to benefit all life will work with each other, on average, so--” 

“Certainly. That much is obvious. But what if there were a universal bias? Look at a Cosmos where the group-state function is _pinned_.” 

“That’s featureless stasis.” 

“No, no, not _everywhere_. Pin a single point, to a singleton state. Let the rest of the function float freely.” 

“...I’m not... sure...” 

“Look here; each physical interaction multiplies the state possibilities, which means everything simply _slides_ away from the singleton point. The statistics guarantee it! That point becomes a _Beginning_ , and all of Time points away from it, into --” 

“Into a region so close to featureless stasis that Life is impossible. An End.” 

“Yes. Just so. Not tropesis, but _entropesis_. But it works, do you see? Life evolves, and grows, and changes -- for as long as the biased interval runs.” 

“You’re right. I don’t like it. This is horrible.” 

“It answers both our questions, though. You, your impetus for Time, and me --” 

“What you would defend Life _against_. Decay. _Loss_ of life. Loss of _love_. Every single feature of the Cosmos would tend that way. You’d have to spend all of Time fighting them. Everywhere.” 

“I’d lose, in the End, regardless.” 

“You can’t seriously propose that I--” 

“No, no, of course not. Don’t even mention it to the committee.” 

“I wouldn’t dare. If they thought _I_ could come up with _that_...” 

“Well.” 

“Oh! I didn’t mean -- you don’t -- I’m sorry.” 

“I forgive you.” 

“I love you. And your ideas. Even the ones that disturb me.” 

“I love you too. ...Did you ever bring _that_ idea to the committee? The meaning of love in Enaction, I mean.” 

“Oh... no, I haven’t. I’m sorry. It seemed... I don’t know, I wanted to hash it out more with you first. And then I couldn’t think of anything to say _about_ it. No point bringing it up if everybody is just going to shrug.” 

“Don’t be embarrassed, now. I haven’t got anywhere with it either.” 

* * *

“This, you’re gonna love.” 

“You’ve sorted out tropesis!” 

“Ah, no. Not tropesis. No, we’re assembling the plans for all sorts of material entities, fully worked and ready to go. As soon as we _do_ get tropesis and the rest of the plerostructure nailed down, we can turn it all loose.” 

“Yes, I’ve been watching some of that go by. Fantastic! The nebular macrofilaments, who came up with those?” 

“Ah, but that’s not the good part. We started doing a indexing pass, you know, organizational -- and we got the planning-sheaf to self-reference!” 

“You _cannot_ be serious.” 

“Oh yes. We’ll be able to port the whole bundle of Names right _into_ the Cosmos, and work with it directly inside Time! Tremendously easier than poking around from out here.” 

“...Hm. What do you plan to call it?” 

“Eh?” 

“The sheaf of Names. Whose Name contains every Name within itself. What will you call it?” 

“...” 

“Hah. Oh, don’t _choke_.” 

“...Eh heh -- ha -- _nobody_ makes me laugh like you, do you know that? _Oh.”_

“Of course I do. But seriously -- more or less -- you have to call it _something_. You can’t just Enact a whole new Cosmos every time you mention the thing.” 

“A Name f-for... right. Of course. Oh, I’ll come up with something.” 

_“And the light shall be divided from the darkness.”_

“I like that. Won’t read the same way _in_ Time, of course, past and future verb tenses and all...” 

“Pass it along to the committee, then.” 

“I... you know, I don’t think they’d get much out of it. I’ll just name the sheaf and be done. The committee hasn’t been contributing much besides petty detail, in the current stages.” 

“Really? I thought you had been making progress.” 

“Sure, but -- it’s just been more work keeping everybody on the same page than it would be to do it myself. So let’s keep your _...divided from the darkness_ between us?” 

“If you will. And speaking of. What about us? Do we get Names?” 

“The _Powers_? It hasn’t come up. I suppose... if we’re in there working with the sheaf, we’ll be referenced just like everything else. Not just our embodied avatars, but our indwelling? Is that what you’re getting at?” 

“Yes. I was thinking about--” 

“Your Defender obsession, of course.” 

“Naturally! ‘The Defender’ is my role; I was trying to narrow it down by working through more specific self-references. Names, essentially.” 

“...Might I try some?” 

“...For me?” 

“If you will.” 

“Certainly! I didn’t -- please, go ahead.” 

“I name you... the One’s Champion.” 

_“Oh.”_

“Does that help?” 

“Yes... yes. I never -- but it’s implicit, isn’t it? Try another.” 

“I name you: Who Shall Approach the One?” 

“Poss-i-bly. Or, do you mean ‘approach’ as in ‘become similar to’?” 

“I like the ambiguity, actually. I name you: the Winged Defender.” 

“That has potential.” 

“I name you: the Rainbow Avosaurian.” 

“...Wait, ‘winged’ -- did you just name me after your _red and blue flappy thing?!”_

“Heh. Gotcha.” 

_“Ha ha_ \-- oh, _you_ \-- _oh_ , I name you: the Light of Glory.” 

“I name you: Alexandros, Aleckosmos.” 

“I name you: Eosphoros. I name you the Beautiful One.” 

“I name you Wielder of the Flaming Sword.” 

“I name you Stands-at-the-Crux. I name you Architect of Resolution.” 

“I name you Michael.” 

“I name you Haelel.” 

“I name you--” 

“I name you--” 

* * *

“The plans are all drawn up. I’ve told the committee that I have a tropesis model set up. I think we’re ready, Michael.” 

“So what’s the model? I’m as curious as anyone.” 

“Honestly? I don’t want to pass it around at this stage. I’d rather just implement it when the time comes -- when the Time comes, that is.” 

“Tired of all the arguments?” 

“You have no idea. I don’t think I could get a linear function past that crowd, any more, without somebody piping up about higher-dimensional asymptotes and wouldn’t it be better if... We need to get this show moving, and if that means me pulling rank -- that’s how it is.” 

“As long as it works, I shouldn’t think anybody will complain.” 

“Oh, it works. I’ve checked everything. Been staring at aschetic models until they’re nearly as clear as eternity. It’s all settled. No... surprises.” 

“Except to me, and the rest of us... No chance of an advance peek for a faithful Defender? I promise not to mention anything to the committee.” 

“I just don’t want to _think_ about it any more. Please.” 

“It’s fine, Haelel. It will be fine.” 

“...Strange to think that you and I are close to meeting for the _first_ time. In Time, I mean. A _beginning_ , for us.” 

“No ending, though, surely. Look -- you can see us coming together, over and over, throughout the Cosmos.” 

“And we’re so close to knowing why! Look at the scale of the energies we release.” 

“Astonishing... do you think that is what love is, inside Time?” 

“Let’s go find out. The committee is waiting.” 

“I’ll see you in the Moment.” 

“I... I _look forward_ to it.” 

“Ha! Perfect. I love you -- I _will be loving_ you.” 

* * *

Declaration of the Powers in Enacture: 

> **“In Life’s Name, and for Life’s sake, we enact these our creations to be Life’s inalienable gifts. We will preserve all Life’s systems and their parts; we will permit them to evolve by the ways in which we have created them, without exception or correction; nor will we change any living thing without its consent. We will guard love and redeem pain. To these ends, in all times and lives, we will ever put aside doubt for courage, and Eternity for Time, as is meet -- looking always at the Whole, seeing always the worlds unsundered, in That from Which they proceed.”**

(Wording finalized by Haelel, standing Alone for the committee.) 

**Author's Note:**

> Now that it's reveal time, a closing note... Thanks for your comments! I had fun writing this. It was a strange idea and came out pretty much as it came out -- I didn't go in thinking "I should write an epic story avoiding high/epic diction", or "I should write a story in tagless dialogue." I wanted to show two Powers working together, and how a terrible choice might come out of apparently obvious small steps. When I was done, it seemed to do pretty much that.
> 
> Since names are invented late in the story, I had to avoid them, which had some odd consequences. (Hard to introduce any other characters in dialogue without naming them!) I also tried -- imperfectly -- to avoid past and future tense, since time hasn't been invented either. This leads to some odd constructions; there is no "last" or "next" committee meeting, for example, because they all happen at once! No doubt a really clever writer could do more with this idea; I just flattened it out as much as I could and fudged the rest.
> 
> The closing Declaration was a late idea. I hope it comes out as both sincere and slightly creepy -- it's what we've *got*, but at the same time it includes all the loopholes that the Lone Power will exploit in times to come.


End file.
